


A Little Flood

by TalysAlankil



Series: Vanven holidays [5]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fourth of July, Just Add Kittens, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25068751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TalysAlankil/pseuds/TalysAlankil
Summary: Ventus's Fourth of July plans are disrupted—first by the weather, then by Vanitas's secret.
Relationships: Vanitas/Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: Vanven holidays [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580869
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	A Little Flood

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Fourth of July if you celebrate it! I'm not American, so I don't, but it seemed like a good excuse for a midsummer holiday fic and also this idea was stuck in my head.

It had been raining for the first few days of July, and Ven was starting to worry that he and Vanitas would have to cancel their Fourth of July plans. He hated the thought of it: the fireworks were his favorite thing about the holiday, and he'd been looking forward to watching them with his boyfriend, now that he finally had one.

The thought still felt surreal to him. That _he_ , Ventus, would have a boyfriend to do sappy boyfriend things with, when he wasn't even out of high school yet. Even though he'd definitely done his fair share of them since Christmas—and some much less sappy and wholesome things too—he still marveled at the prospect of doing another cliché thing with Vanitas.

So the idea that he might have to cancel his twilight picnic, lingering outside as the stars came out to watch the fireworks, all in the name of some silly weather, was bringing his mood down a few notches.

If Vanitas noticed, he didn't mention it. If anything, he looked like something was distracting him as well: they had only seen each other once in the past few days, in spite of their clear schedules now that summer vacation had started, and that one time Ven had come over to his place, he'd looked like he was elsewhere the whole time. He'd even dipped outside for a few minutes, leaving Ven by himself for a while and refusing to let him come along for whatever he was doing.

Ven could have worried about it, of course, but he didn't think it had anything to do with him or their relationship. Maybe he was fooling himself with too much optimism, but he felt like they were in a good place. So it had to be something else. He tried asking Xion, but she didn't seem to have any clue either.

It only made Ven want to go through with his plans even more, so they could have a moment to re-center themselves. So when the morning of the Fourth came with a mercifully, _beautifully_ blue and clear sky, Ven greeted it with a wide smile.

He rushed down to the kitchen, and greeted his brothers with a chipper "All right, guys, we're _back on track_!" Roxas groaned, though Ven was pretty sure it was only for show. As for Sora, he rushed to help Ven prepare his picnic, even though they had hours to spare.

* * *

In his eagerness, Ven showed up at Vanitas's house far too early. When Vanitas looked at the cooler he was carrying, he quirked an eyebrow up.

"Who're you planning to feed, exactly? I thought it was just the two of us."

Ven glanced down, suddenly aware that he might have packed a little too much. It'd been too hard to just _pick_ some of their favorite foods, when he wanted to be sure to have the _perfect_ one. He flashed an apologetic grin at Vanitas. "Sorry?"

Vanitas chuckled, and stepped aside to let Ven in. "Well, at least we'll have leftovers for a while."

"Is that your way of asking me to stay the night?" Ven teased.

Surprisingly, Vanitas faltered at that, strangely hesitant. It wasn't like they were strangers to dirty jokes, so his reaction took Ven aback. Ven turned to look at him, curious, and his eyes suddenly fell on what he was wearing. "Vanitas, it's summertime, and the weather's finally sunny and hot. _Why_ are you wearing a hoodie inside?"

Vanitas crossed his arms in front of himself, narrowing his eyes defensively. "Just…felt like being comfortable? It was raining for the past few days."

"Well it's not—" Ven stopped himself as his eyes fell to Vanitas's chest. "Did your hoodie just _move_?"

"No?" It was a bald-faced lie, and not even a very good or convincing one.

"Vanitas—" He reached for Vanitas's hoodie, but Vanitas stepped back, clutching his own chest defensively.

"Hey! Personal boundaries, okay?"

Ven froze, raised his hands in surrender, and drew back. "Sorry. But aren't you gonna tell me what's going on?"

Vanitas averted his eyes. "You'll think it's stupid." Was he _blushing_?

"Vanitas, it's—" Just then, something poked from beneath Vanitas's collar, just a tiny hint of blue-grey fur. Vanitas shoved it back down immediately, but Ven had already seen it. "Is that—"

"Not here," Vanitas whispered with a defeated sigh. "Come on."

He started up the stairs, forcing Ven to follow gingerly, all the way to his bedroom in the attic. He closed the door carefully, gazing around as if he expected someone to sneak up on him. Then he turned to Ven.

"You can't tell anyone about this."

"Of course, what—"

Vanitas reached down the front of his hoodie, struggled for a second, then pulled out a tiny, furry creature, its coat a uniform blue-grey tint. It was small enough to fit into one of Vanitas's hand, and it took a moment for Ven to make out the tiny, folded ears and triangular tail; just as he did, it raised its head, eyes closed but blindly turning towards Vanitas's finger.

"Is that a _kitten_?" Ven cried out in delight.

Vanitas shushed him. "My parents are gonna hear you!"

"Sorry," Ven said, quieter. "Wait, does that mean you _smuggled_ a _kitten_ in your _house_? What are you even _doing_ with it?"

"I've, um—I found him, okay? And his mom." His somber tone warranted no further explanation as to what had happened to her. "Last week."

"Last—" Ven blinked. "That's what you've been doing all this time, isn't it?"

Vanitas nodded. "I kept him hidden in the shed, since no one goes in there anyway. But after all the rain, the roof started leaking, and I thought, if I was going to spend the evening with you and it rained again, something might happen to him. So I was going to bring him here for tonight and figure something out later." He glared at Ven, accusatory, as he sat down on his bed. "But then _you_ showed up early."

Ven didn't even have it in him to feel offended when the sight of Vanitas holding the kitten was just about the most endearing thing he'd ever seen. "Look at him," he whispered. "He's just the most adorable thing!"

Vanitas let out a soft chuckle. "Yeah."

"What're you planning to do with him?"

"I don't know. I was thinking I'd hand him over to a shelter, or something like—"

"You're gonna keep him, aren't you."

Another glare, annoyed this time. "Maybe," he reluctantly admitted.

His words were punctuated by a sudden thunderclap, startling Ven and the kitten both. "Aw, come _on_!" Ven cried out. "It was supposed to be _perfect_!"

Vanitas wasn't even paying attention to his dramatic outburst; he was too busy petting the kitten until it settled down in his hand. The display chased away some of Ven's bad mood.

"Look at that. He thinks you're his mom."

He expected a retort, but Vanitas only had a goofy smile as he kept his eyes on the kitten. And even though Ven heard the sound of rain pouring down on the roof above them, he couldn't even feel bad about losing out on his plans.

"You know, maybe we could stay here tonight. Watch over him. Maybe share some of the food with him?"

"I think he's too young for real food. But—" He looked up, nervous. "You sure? I know this meant a lot to you."

Ven looked out the window, at the sky darkening with clouds and the rain beating down on the lawn outside. "I think we could tell my plans goodbye anyway. Maybe we'll be able to see fireworks from here? If they even fire any in this weather."

"There's always next year, right?"

His words reminded Ven of his own, back at Easter. Little glimpses that they wanted a future together—both of them. "Right," he said, smiling. He came to sit next to Vanitas. "So do you know what you'll call him?"

"Well, I found him the day this rain started, so I was thinking something related to that." He glanced out the window. "It's even worse today." There was relief behind his words.

"Looks like, yeah. Glad I got here before it started."

"Me too," Vanitas said, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "It's like a deluge out there."

"It's not exactly _biblical_ ," Ven retorted with a giggle.

"Close enough. A little flood." He glanced down at the kitten. "Maybe that could be it. Flood. You like that, buddy?" He set the kitten down on his lip, and it let out the tiniest peep—hardly a meow at all. "Let's take that as a yes," Vanitas said, satisfied. He pet the kitten—with just one finger, which was more than enough to cover his whole back—and it began to purr with surprising strength for his small size.

Ven couldn't hold back his smile as his watched them. "I'll go get my cooler," he said. Vanitas barely acknowledged him as he walked away, but Ven didn't even mind, when he saw the fond look on his face.

When he came back up, Vanitas was sprawled on the mattress, letting Flood walk around a bit, though he kept him from venturing too close to the edge. He looked up at Ven and beckoned him over with a smile.

"If you need any help with him," Ven said as he lay on the mattress across from him, Flood between them, "just ask. I've got a lot of free time this summer."

"Thanks." He reached across, careful to steer clear of the kitten, and kissed Ven. It was brief and relatively chaste, but it still made the whole thing worth it to Ven. "You wanna hold him?"

Ven nodded with a smile. Maybe he would have his romantic picnic after all, even if it wasn't quite going like he'd expected.

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based on [this tweet](https://twitter.com/cassidyleora/status/1265093021915283457) by [CassidyLeora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassidyLeora) and also [this fanart of Vanitas by novallion](https://novallion.tumblr.com/post/182840137838/you-know-those-images-of-guys-hiding-kittens-in):


End file.
